Daughter of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (a
political leader and former Prime Minister) and Nusrat Bhutto (former Member of
Parliament and Deputy Prime Minister of Pakistan)

Aged 16 sent to Harvard University

1973 Father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, became Prime
Minister of Pakistan

1977 returns to Pakistan. Martial law declared,
Bhutto's father is arrested and Benazir is placed under house
arrest

1979 Benazir Bhutto's father is hanged. She
becomes leader of Pakistan People's Party. Spends seven years in
exile or under house arrest

April 1986 Bhutto returns to Pakistan

Married, December, 1987 to Asif Ali Zardari (in
business, twice elected Member of National Assembly and Senator)

Pakistan Peoples Party, Karachi, Pakistan
co-chair, beginning in 1986

Becomes Prime Minister in 1988 but her government
is illegally dismissed in August 1990.

Comes to power after her party won a majority in
elections held in October 1993.

Government once again dismissed illegally in
November 1996.

1996 Bhutto removed from government, started
living in exile in UK & UAE

October 2007 returned to Pakistan.

December 27, 2007 martyred in Rawalpindi, Pakistan

Children: Bilawal; Bakhtwar and Aseefa.

Early Life

Benazir Bhutto - the eldest child of former Pakistani premier
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto , was born on June 21, 1953, at Karachi.

Education

Ms. Bhutto attended Lady Jennings Nursery School and then Convent of
Jesus and Mary in Karachi. After two years of schooling at the
Rawalpindi Presentation Convent, she was sent to the Jesus and Mary
Convent at Murree. She passed her O-level examination at the age of
15. In April 1969, she got admission in the U. S. at Harvard
University's Radcliffe College. In June 1973, Benazir graduated from
Harvard University with a degree in Political Science. After
graduating from Harvard, Benazir joined Oxford University in the
fall of 1973. Just before graduation, Benazir was elected to the
Standing Committee of the most prestigious Oxford Union Debating
Society.

In 1976, she graduated in P. P. E. (Politics, Philosophy and
Economics). In the autumn of 1976, Benazir returned once again to
Oxford to do a one-year postgraduate course. In January 1977, she
was elected the President of the Oxford Union.

Return to Pakistan

Benazir Bhutto returned to Pakistan in June 1977. She wanted to join
the Foreign Service but her father wanted her to contest the
Assembly election. As she was not yet of age, Benazir Bhutto
assisted her father as an advisor.

In July 1977, General Zia-ul-Haq imposed Martial Law. - her father
was arrested on a murder charge and she was placed under house
arrest. Benazir Bhutto became the focus for his followers and, from
jail, he continued to advise her what to say to the crowds. After he
was hanged in 1979 she felt that she must follow him as leader of
the Pakistan People's Party. During the Martial Law, Benazir was
allowed to proceed abroad on medical grounds in January 1984, after
spending nearly six and a half years in jail. She went into exile in
England for two years.

When she returned on April 10, 1986, one million people welcomed her
at the Lahore airport. She attended mammoth rallies all over
Pakistan and kept in close touch with the Movement for Restoration
of Democracy.

Marriage

On December 18, 1987, Benazir married Asif Ali Zardari in Karachi.

Carrier

She contested the elections, which were held by Ghulam Ishaq Khan,
who had taken over as acting President after the death of General
Zia in an air crash on August 17, 1988, at Bhawalpur.

Benazir Bhutto approached the Supreme Court of Pakistan, seeking
enforcement of the fundamental rights guaranteed to the political
parties under Article 17(2) of the 1973 Constitution, to hold the
elections on Party basis. The Supreme Court gave its verdict in
favor of the political parties. The P. P. P., without forming an
alliance with any party, won 94 out of 207 seats in the National
Assembly. With the cooperation of eight M. Q. M. members and 13
members of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, the P. P. P. was
able to get a clear majority in the National Assemblies. Benazir
Bhutto was nominated as the Prime Minister on December 2, 1988, and
Ghulam Ishaq Khan was nominated the President of Pakistan.

As a Prime Minister

At the age of 35, she was the youngest and the first woman Prime
Minister to lead a Muslim nation in modern age. During her first
term, she started Peoples Program for economic uplift of the masses.
Benazir Bhutto also lifted a ban on student and trade unions. The P.
P. P. Government hosted the fourth S. A. A. R. C. Summit held in
Islamabad, in December 1988.

On various issues, differences between her Government and the
Establishment led to her dismissal by the President Ghulam Ishaq
Khan, on August 6, 1990.

Benazir Bhutto returned to power for the second time in 1993 after
the resignation of both President Ghulam Ishaq Khan and Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif on July 18, 1993. The resignation led to the
announcement of fresh elections for the National and Provincial
Assemblies. The elections were held on October 6 and 9, 1993,
respectively.

The elections were boycotted by the M. Q. M. No party emerged with
an absolute majority in the elections. As a result the P. P. P.
formed the new government with the help of alliances. Benazir Bhutto
took oath as Prime Minister on October 19, 1993. The Presidential
election was held on November 13. Farooq Ahmad Khan Leghari, the P.
P. P. candidate, won by 274 to 168 votes against the then acting
President Wasim Sajjad.

During her second tenure, Benazir again faced trouble from the
opposition. In the autumn of 1994, Nawaz Sharif led a "train march"
from Karachi to Peshawar. This was followed by general strike on
September 20. Two weeks later Nawaz Sharif called a "wheel jam"
strike on October 11.

The second tenure of Benazir Bhutto was, however, highlighted by the
visit of the U. S. first Lady Hillary Clinton and her daughter
Chelsea in 1995. Hillary's visit considerably changed the world's
perceptions about Pakistan and highlighted Pakistan as a liberal,
modern and forward-looking country. In April 1994, Benazir visited
the U. S., and projected Pakistan's stance on the F-16 fighter
planes withheld by the U. S. despite payments. Her visit resulted in
the passing of the Brown Amendment by the U. S. Senate on September
21, 1995, easing restrictions on Pakistan. It also helped in
attracting foreign investors. On the domestic front she continued
facing problems with M. Q. M. In spite of all her political
endeavors, a smooth relationship could not be established between
the Government and M. Q. M.

Benazir Bhutto's brother, Mir Murtaza Bhutto, was assassinated under
mysterious circumstances in a police ambush on September 20, 1996.
The high-profile killing of her brother in her tenure damaged her
political career.

Things were not going well between the President and Benazir's
Government. Differences soon appeared and the Government felt that
there was interference in the political matters of the Government by
the President. President Farooq Leghari dismissed Benazir Bhutto's
Government on charges of corruption and mismanagement on November 5,
1996, under the Article 58(2) b of the Eighth Amendment.

Popularity

She has been mentioned as "The world's most popular politician" in
the New Guinness Book of Record 1996. The "Times" and the
"Australian Magazine" (May 4, 1996) have drawn up a list of 100 most
powerful women and have included Benazir Bhutto as one of them.